I work in a mens prison AMA

[CrispAura]

Send me a question, and I will try to answer as honestly as possible

What percentage do you think are actually guilty?

My question is….do you have a Listener Scheme in your prison and if so, how effective do you think it is in keeping the prison a slightly calmer place? is it well supported by you and fellow officers? or seen as a pain in the arse moving the Listeners around when they get a call?

A few. They are on the VP unit. Some are nice, some aren't. A few are rapists wanting to change into women for I don't know why. The men like them because they are the nearest thing to a woman in a men's prison.

I can't. Too outing and not fair on the Prisoner to say.

I do but I'm also very direct. You need to be in certain situations like if someone is self harming. You need to be able to ask them direct questions like do they want to kill themselves by self harming etc

Do you get fed up with the media portrayal of your place of work being akin to a cushy hotel.

I used to live next door to an open prison. Every weekend, all the prisoners would pour out, get the train, buses, taxis. I found that unsettling tbh.

Now I live near a very famous prison but isn't a Cat A anymore. Lots of paedophiles and rapists instead. I know several people who work there and have for years, as POs and admin staff. I used to volunteer for a charity assisting offenders in the probation service until Covid shut it down.

It must be a fascinating but exhausting job @CrispAura

The funniest story I heard was a PO who had gone to KFC for lunch and left the box under his car because he didn't want his car to smell. The bomb squad were heading over from the mainland before they realised what it was!

Think of long term prisoners, that have long standing relationships with their solicitors. We/ Offiicers/ Search staff are not allowed to look at official papers that they bring in or official stuff that gets posted in. They can easily bring drugs in with those papers! You do know they can spray liquid Spice on paper that they can then smoke? No? Well they can, and they do. They also spray liquid drugs on to kids drawings and paintings and send them to daddy. Some get through, most don't. Just because you don't THINK these things happen it doesn't mean they don't happen!

Make them go to work in the prison.
Make them go to learn to read and write
Make them keep their cell clean
Rehabilitate them
Give them something to do in the day whilst locked up for more than 22 hours

Indeed, those sorts of girls in that sort of job is strange.

Because they need staff and we are desperate for boots on landings, so anyone gets through vetting

No. Women are a calming presence, and it works.

Honestly, I would have been watching that excuse for a woman like a hawk. She screams I'm a slag.

Size does not matter. Go for it if you wish to do the job.

Yes always. Have you seen someone on Spice? It's not calming or nice

Have you ever felt unsafe? Can you please describe the situations in a non-outing way?

They also spray liquid drugs on to kids drawings and paintings and send them to daddy.

Apologies for the derail, but I laughed when the Mumsnet algorithm bot just gave me this juxtaposition (pic):

Do you think paying POs more (and possibly training them in some social work) would make a difference to the drug smuggling? I wouldn’t smuggle drugs into my institution but I can’t imagine I’d be bribed enough to make it worth it. Aren’t junior POs on under £20k in some places? I can see the risk/reward calc there might make sense…

I worked in a men's prison (education) for a few years and there's no way I'd ever have worked in a women's prison.

wow...REALLY interesting post...thanks OP

Thank you for this thread @CrispAura
I cant help wondering about your answer here, do you mean that the things which steer women into criminality are different? Or have I misunderstood?

Also: do you think prison architectures (particularly Victorian estates) are conducive to staff/prisoner safety? I’m of the opinion we should throw money at building safer modern prisons and close down ones over 30 years old and that this may well increase overall safety and recidivism

Cells are small for 2 men and yes the toilet is in the cell with a privacy curtain.
I have never seen a lavish cell! Most are poky and messy and dirty. Hardly any have play stations because they are expensive to buy, you can't just have one sent in. They have to buy them from a prison approved vendor with money they have earned from working and be an enhanced Prisoner.

No

No. I earn under £40k